


Standing Still

by Kiterie



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-01
Updated: 2008-08-01
Packaged: 2017-11-28 01:18:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/668613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiterie/pseuds/Kiterie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kakashi talking to the stone about how he feels about his life (roughly 10 years after Minato died)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Standing Still

The sun shone, glaringly bright across the training field. It made the figure standing at the stone seem oddly out of place with his dark clothes, his slouching posture, and his head bent. The effect only seemed to amplify the man's expression; defeated, lost, and strangely resigned.

"I feel as though I'm sleeping." He spoke the words to no one, or at least no one that could be seen. It had become a ritual so long ago that it was a part of him, it drew him so strongly he couldn't deny it even when he wanted to. And, so like most days, he was here speaking to no one who could hear him. Because, they were the only ones who could understand him.

"When I'm here, it's as though this is only a dream." There was both acceptance and confusion in the tone. "The day disappears and I don't remember where it went."

It had been nearly ten years and still he was here, perhaps he had no where else to go, or simply no where he wanted to be. His memories were here, at least the important ones were.

"I only feel alive when I'm on a mission, but then I'm home and I'm asleep again, or I'm here... and I'm dead.

It was truth, as far as truth is actually true. The adrenaline on missions pushing him to see the world, the fear making it all too real, and reality forced upon him causing him to pay attention. _That_ was life. It made him feel things, remember why he kept moving forward, and it kept  him focused so he could hold onto those things.

Then... then he came home and he fell asleep again. It was too calm and he passed through it too much like the shadow he could feel himself becoming. But, you can't die in dreams. Not really.

And, so, the stone would call him from his slumber and he would end up here again. His death crushing him all over again. Each death, his father, Obito, Rin, Sensei... all of it reminding him that without them, what had been _him_ was dead.

Kakashi felt as though really, he was standing still, had been for what seemed like forever now. His body moved, it lived but he didn't. It slept, but never dreamed and... in the end... he was dead.


End file.
